2 People, 2 Continents: Last Days in Thailand-Bangkok

For the past three days we have been exploring Bangkok. On Friday, we took a short one hour flight from Chaing Mai to Bangkok. We quickly boarded the subway and ventured to our guesthouse. After checking in, we went out to explore the area. We stumbled onto the main backpackers street and enjoyed some delicious curry and chicken-basil-chili rice. After dinner, we walked around for a bit then headed back to our guesthouse for an early night.

On Saturday we woke up, had breakfast at the guesthouse, and set off in search of temples. We soon found a tuk-tuk (a small three-wheel, open-air taxi) driver and negotiated a price for him to take us around the city. For 50 baht (around $1.80) he drove us to numerous temples, markets and to the royal palace. We toured the most important temples at a quick pace and had a lot of time to wander around the royal palace. At the palace we had to adjust our wardrobes. I had to put a t-shirt over my tank-top, knee-length dress. Fred had to put on linen pants because shorts were not allowed to be worn inside. Once we were properly dressed, we were ready to enter. The royal palace is magnificent. It consists of numerous ornate temples, shrines, and statues. After a few hours we were tired, sweaty, thirsty and templed-out. We left the royal palace and headed to the train station. We needed to decide how we are going to get to Cambodia. After much deliberation, we decided that we are going to take a bus, not a train. Once we left the station, we headed out for dinner. We each had delicious sandwiches then sat around playing cards and watching soccer. Around 9pm we ventured back to our guesthouse.

View of Bangkok

The Golden Mountain

The Royal Palace

Royal Palace

This morning we woke up with a short list of must see sites. We headed directly to the river. We walked along the waterfront and came upon a pier that had a ferry to Wat (Temple) Arun. Wat Arun is one of the oldest and most important temples in Bangkok. It is breathtaking. It is made out of porcelain and is painted with beautiful designs. After climbing the steepest stairs in Thailand (this is quite possibly true) we were walking around the temple and overlooking the river. We could even see the royal palace directly across the river. Once we ferried back across the river, we stopped for some Pad Thai and enjoyed the river view. We then headed to a market and enjoyed pineapple, fruit smoothies and tons of new sites. We are now back at the guesthouse, preparing for our long 12 hour journey to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We have had a wonderful time in Thailand for the past 2 weeks. We are not ready to leave this unique place however we are excited for our next adventure!